Tuesday, September 28, 2010

And we build all of this infrastructure with public money (possibly deficit spending) because, for a number of reasons – from the unsustainability of growth on the roads, to the finite nature of the world’s oil supply, to tackling climate change – it’s imperative that we encourage people out of their cars and onto our trains and trams. Public transport is a natural monopoly; it’s not something we can leave up to the wondrous “free market”. As the last thirty years have demonstrated. So we fund it through our taxes, as an important public service.

And there’s no need to punish the poorest Victorians, concession-card holders, in order to do it.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I think we should make public transport free. This has worked wonders in a number of European cities where the use of P/T increased 10 fold and big savings were made on maintaining roads as people were leaving their cars at home. For this idea to work in Canberra, to start with we would need adequate services for commuters to work and school (as a resident of West Belconnen I think the ACTION service is appalling).

How could you pay for this? There would be savings on road maintenance and less necessity for building new roads. Raising rates to cover the shortfall would also be a motivator, as people know that they are already paying for the service.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Yes, man-made climate change denial is about politics, but it’s more pragmatic than ideological. The politics have been shaped around the demands of industrial lobby groups, which happen, in many cases, to fund those who articulate them. Right-wingers are making monkeys of themselves over climate change not just because their beliefs take precedence over the evidence, but also because their interests take precedence over their beliefs. George Monbiot

Greens' Safe Climate Bill

Travelling with a light footprint
Australia's cities and suburbs are increasingly being built around cars, not people, and more of our intercity travel and freight is going by road or air instead of rail. In a world where peak oil and climate change are converging, this has to change fast.
We have to redesign our cities for people instead of cars, with urban villages connected by fast, efficient and convenient buses, trams and trains, cycleways and pedestrian paths. We have to give ourselves real alternatives to flying between cities. We have to end the subsidies to fossil fuel based transport. We have to think a few steps into the future, instead of repeating the same old mistakes of the past. ReadMore [pdf]